Working with clients is always a dialogue…

It’s been a minute since I last posted. Bridal season is upon us so my Curvy Custom Bride work has been ramping up. At the same time, I’m narrowing the focus of the Three Dresses Project. I’ll be cleaning up this site for clarity.

It’s fun to think of my humble beginnings, fitting myself by myself. I learned so much from taking the time to do that. No matter what fabric you buy or what your design is, if it doesn’t fit, it’s not worth it.

I’ve had a number of clients say that they don’t like certain design elements…but what I notice is that it’s mostly because the fit was off. Suggesting they might like that same element if it only fit sometimes comes as a shocker.

Below is a dress I designed for Carolyn Springer, an Indianapolis based artist. She was having an big art showing and wanted a dress that would connect to the theme of her art work.

That’s when I asked how comfortable she’d be painting silk! She took on the fabric design, while I worked on the mock-up. It was such a great collaboration!

Lens: Jennifer Driscoll Photography

These kind of artist collaborations are exciting! I figured out that I needed to carefully measure how far Carolyn needed to paint the darker part of the design, so that the whole dress would go together seamlessly.

Of course there’s always more fabric, but there was little room for error. Plus, there was a deadline, which suits me personally.

I’ve just finished a couple of custom dresses that I can’t show yet because their event hasn’t happened yet, but soon…like this beautiful Titanic dress I made for a client in Pennsylvania. It should be arriving at her house today!

I’m now off to cut a couple of client pieces that need first fittings and get ready for some final fittings and pick-ups. I’m making my lists so I can leave my studio for a long weekend for some needed rest.